


The Spoils of War

by BeccaAnne814



Series: Bucky Barnes x Reader Oneshots [19]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Probably a curse word or two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22210249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaAnne814/pseuds/BeccaAnne814
Summary: Being a low-ranking member of the Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force meant that it was your job to sift through the debris to look for clues as to what the Winter Soldier had been doing for the past two years he’d been on the run. You weren’t sure what you’d find in this crappy, rundown apartment, but a job was a job.
Relationships: Bucky Barnes x Reader
Series: Bucky Barnes x Reader Oneshots [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/772437
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	The Spoils of War

**Bucky Barnes x Reader**

**Summary** – Being a low-ranking member of the Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force meant that it was your job to sift through the debris to look for clues as to what the Winter Soldier had been doing for the past two years he'd been on the run. You weren’t sure what you’d find in this crappy, rundown apartment, but a job was a job.

**Warnings** –Angst. . .probably a curse word or two

**Word Count** – 869

**Notes:** At the end.

_ ** [Masterlist](https://beccaanne814.tumblr.com/post/174989754188/masterlist) ** _

[[MORE]]

The apartment was a disaster. There was glass from the broken windows littered all over the floor, not to mention the splintered wood and bits of cinder block that peppered the entire area. The fight had started here, but had quickly spread to the stairwell and then to the streets of Bucharest.

Being a low-ranking member of the Joint Counter Terrorism Task Force meant that it was her job to sift through the debris to look for clues as to what the Winter Soldier had been doing for the past two years he'd been on the run. She wasn't sure what they would find in this crappy, rundown apartment, but a job was a job.

She'd heard through the grapevine that the backpack he'd been wearing when he'd been apprehended him had been full of journals. Right now some of the top agents under Deputy Ross were pouring through them looking for insight into the man formerly known at Sergeant James Barnes.

Since the events in Washington D.C. two years ago, YN had become obsessed with learning everything she could about the mysterious Ghost HYDRA had used to carry out their dirty work for over seventy years. Thankfully, Agent Romanoff had been so kind as to dump all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s—and HYDRA's—files on the internet, so it was just a matter of knowing where to look to find the right information.

She was dying to get her hands on one of those journals, but she knew it would be years before she had the clearance, and by then, they'd most likely be locked away where no one could access them. It was just her luck, then, when she moved a broken cinder block and found one laying amongst the detritus.

She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, but her fellow teammates were busy conducting their own searches. Knowing it was a crime didn't stop her from scooping it up and stuffing it into the waistband of her pants under her shirt. She'd just play it cool until they were done for the day and then she'd reward herself that evening with a glass of wine and some deep reading.

How she'd managed to keep her expression neutral for the entire day was a testament to the extensive training she'd undergone. But now that she was home, she couldn't keep the smile off of her face. She was finally going to get an up close and personal look at one of the most captivating minds in human history.

At first glance, it was just an ordinary leather bound journal, but she could see where he'd added colored coded tabs to some of the pages. The elastic band wasn't holding the book closed, but rather serving as a bookmark. Letting it fall open, she found a magazine photo of Captain America filling up one whole page. Under the picture were written some words. "The man on the bridge. Captain America. Steve."

Her breath caught in her throat when she got a glimpse of his handwriting for the first time. On some pages, it was neat and orderly, but on others it was barely legible as though he'd been in a hurry to write down whatever he'd needed to say before he forgot it—again. If there was anything to be learned about James "Bucky" Barnes from his journals, it was that he was desperately trying to piece together the life HYDRA had stolen from him.

She read through the entire journal in one sitting, and by the end, she was in tears. Some of the memories had been of his time in Brooklyn with Steve before the serum, but others were graphic accounts of the heinous crimes HYDRA had forced him to commit. The longer she read, the more quickly she began to understand his coding system. Blue was for a memory of Steve, red was for the Winter Soldier, yellow seemed to be for events he couldn't place in a timeline, and green was for memories he thought might be a dream.

Only having one of the journals limited her ability to form a full picture of the man they'd been hunting for years, but if the others were in any way like the one she held in her hands, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that they were completely wrong about the Winter Soldier. He wasn't a villain—he was a victim. He was nothing more than a weapon that HYDRA had wielded when it had suited them, and he was no more to blame for the crimes he'd been forced to commit than a knife was to blame for stabbing someone. A weapon was only dangerous when it was in the hand of a human being, but the weapon itself was harmless on its own. The past two years proved that when left alone, Bucky Barnes was harmless. Zemo had proven that when he'd uttered the sequence of words that had triggered the assassin HYDRA had spent decades creating. Tempers at the Task Force were at an all time high, but if it was the last thing she did, she'd make sure that Bucky Barnes' name was cleared—heroes didn't belong in a cage.

_______________

_Thank you for reading Day 41 of my writing challenge! I hope you enjoyed it! I've been fascinated by Bucky's journals since we saw Steve pick up that one in Civil War. The colored coded tabs, and photo of Steve have intrigued me for years now, so I'm glad I was finally able to voice my theories on what it all means. Would you have stolen the journal if you'd been the one to find it? I look forward to your comments!_

If you liked this story, please consider reblogging, and if you have any questions, my _[inbox](https://beccaanne814.tumblr.com/ask)_ is always open! 


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